(Editor's note: This press release was published on the LUMO Labs website July 9, 2024 and is published here with their permission.)
Pictured in back row: Andy Lürling, Sabine Schoorl, Sven Bakkes. Seated: Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen and Thomas Hannes.
EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands – Dutch fund manager LUMO Labs announces the launch of a new investment fund with a total size of € 100 million; LUMO Rise Fund. With this fund, LUMO Labs invests in European start-ups focused on the development and application of emerging digital technologies for a greener and stronger society.
In doing so, LUMO Labs builds on its investment strategy and expertise related to the opportunities and challenges of a society in which physical and digital reality are becoming increasingly integrated.
For LUMO Labs, this new fund means an expansion in capital for more regional diversification and more room for follow-on financing to increase the financial, social, and environmental return on its investments.
Climate Action (UN SDG 13) and Digital Security will be added to the existing LUMO Labs focus areas, which are continued in LUMO Rise Fund.
Concerning impact, these focus areas are Good Health and Well-being (UN SDG 3), Quality Education (UN SDG 4), Sustainable Cities & Communities (UN SDG 11). More specifically with regards to the newly added Climate Action (UN SDG 13), LUMO Labs focuses on propositions related to urban areas.
LUMO Labs technology focus is on emerging digital technologies that are pivotal for achieving these Sustainable Development Goals, as formulated by the United Nations.
Emerging digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Blockchain and especially (deeptech) Artificial Intelligence, enable processing and evaluation of unparalleled quantities of information with unparalleled speed, at unprecedented scale. This makes the further development and application of these technologies particularly relevant in the current context of intricate social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Andy Lürling, Founding Partner LUMO Labs, comments, “Emerging digital technologies, such as deeptech AI, allow people to manage complexity with unprecedented speed and scale. This holds the key to structural solutions and sustainable alternatives to widespread degenerative habits and unsustainable systems. We invest in impact-driven entrepreneurs who have the ambition and potential to reach large numbers of people, with digital propositions aimed at improving people’s quality of life and well-being, and relieving the ever-increasing strain on healthcare, social services and the planet.”
Over the next four years, LUMO Labs will invest in approximately 30 to 35 impact-driven digital technology startups with LUMO Rise Fund.
“For startups with innovative, digital propositions, (pre)-seed funding is critical for speed and scale. In addition to funding, it is key to understand and facilitate the specific kind of value creation and risk mitigation that fits this exceptional stage, to succeed. We swear by methodical and timely selection, active monitoring, and our proven LUMO Program. Built on four solid pillars related to leadership, product-market fit, storytelling and follow-on investment, this active support program is tailored to each startup’s individual needs and updated on a rolling basis.” says Sven Bakkes, Founding Partner LUMO Labs.
Upon investment from LUMO, startup founders immediately enter in the bespoke LUMO coaching program, involving specific third-party subject-matter experts and experienced entrepreneurs in addition to LUMO Labs’ inhouse team and partners. This tailor-made support program is aimed at optimizing economic value creation, as well as at optimizing the social and environmental impact of the startup in line with the fund’s impact objectives.
Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen, Senior Partner LUMO Labs, emphasizes, “Our investments must not only pay off financially, they must also contribute to our specific sustainable development goals. From the very first contact and screening prior to investment, we pay a lot of attention to the impact proposition of the startup and provide continued support, to ensure that our investments align with our impact focus.”
With the launch of LUMO Rise Fund, the investment team is now also proactively looking at suitable startups outside of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, namely in Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Spain and Portugal. Local experts will be added to the team shortly. Start-ups from the rest of Europe are also eligible for investment from the fund.
Financial institutions, family offices and High Net Worth Individuals, from the Netherlands and other European countries, have already committed capital to LUMO Rise Fund in the past month, as have Dutch regional development agencies BOM, Oost NL and NOM/IFG. In the next twelve months, several more public and private parties will join in.
Through its first fund, LUMO Labs invested in 23 impact-driven technology and digital deeptech startups such as Alphabeats, Aiosyn, Autoscriber, chunkx, Enliven, Healthpus.ai, and Hulo.
LUMO Labs
LUMO Labs was founded in 2016 by former tech entrepreneurs Andy Lürling and Sven Bakkes. After an initial stint as angel investors with only their own capital, they started the first LUMO fund in 2020 and were the first in the Netherlands to make a strict combination of emerging digital technologies and UN SDGs as the foundation of its investment strategy.
In recent years, LUMO Labs has grown into one of the most active professional (pre)seed investors in the Netherlands in the field of (deep tech) AI, among other things.
More than a third of LUMO Labs’ portfolio has a female (co-)founder, which is significantly higher than the European average.
With a view to the LUMO Rise Fund, experienced investors, Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen and Sabine Schoorl, were announced as Senior Partners at LUMO Labs last December. In addition to their commitment to the portfolio based on their expertise in climate action, and sustainable cities and communities, they will also be closely involved in the impact and DEI strategies within the portfolio companies. Thomas Hannes, who is currently investment director at LUMO Labs, also joins as Partner.
LUMO Labs is known for the active involvement of all partners and team in the startup ecosystem in the Netherlands and its continued contribution and focus on strengthening the network and visibility abroad for further growth and impact.